Where Liberalism Is Alive and Well!

Paul Ryan’s “Path to Poverty” Ripped To Shreds!

Ezra Klein is one smart dude, in case you didn’t know. In this post, after the dust has settled on the Ryan proposal, he breaks it down in a concise way. I’m pasting highlights from each point, please go read the whole thing. It will empower you with facts to beat back the bullshit flying around the internet and around the water cooler. Go Ezra Klein…

1) Ryan’s suggestion that Medicare and Medicaid can or should be held to the rate of inflation is absurd. His budget has no way of making that happen, save for draconian cuts in both (this goes far, far beyond “means-testing”)

2) The idea that conservatives believe the savings in Ryan’s plan are realistic while those in the Affordable Care Act aren’t boggles the mind. For one thing, Ryan includes the supposedly unrealistic savings from the Affordable Care Act; they can’t be realistic in Ryan’s budget but not realistic in the ACA

3) I suspect Ryan capped Medicare and Medicaid at the rate of inflation rather than at GDP+1% because when he used GDP+1%, he couldn’t get the numbers to add up without including some tax increases.

4) The budget is much more regressive than I thought it would be. In the first 10 years, it has $4 trillion in program cuts, and most of them are coming from programs that primarily serve low-income or otherwise vulnerable Americans.

5) The implication of the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis isn’t just that seniors would pay more for less under Ryan’s Medicare reform but that the gap between Ryan’s plan and traditional Medicare would grow over time.

6) This is related to No. 5, but there’s a big difference between cutting costs and shifting them. Cutting medical care for the disabled doesn’t cut the cost of their care; it just means someone who isn’t the federal government has to pay it.

7) The difference between Ryan’s treatment of spending that occurs through the tax code and Ryan’s treatment of spending that occurs through programs is both instructive and disappointing. On the one hand, he’s willing to slash Medicaid to reduce the deficit. On the other hand, when he slashes the deduction for employer-provided health-care insurance, he’s only willing to use it to lower tax rates. He could’ve slashed regressive tax expenditures to pay down the deficit and preserved Pell Grants.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) says the GOP spin that Democrats are at fault for not passing this budget last year when they had “complete control” over Congress is being DISHONEST. It was actually held up by the Republican filibuster, which they used a record number of times. Very little the House did last year could get through the Senate, thanks to the “Party of NO!”

E.L your friend Angry Black Lady got a kick ass post up this morning. I guess we can relate to the one section of her post where she talks about comments are removed and folks like us get shouted down. But I guess in your case ban from a site.

I’m not exactly proud of being banned from so many sites, but the truth definitely cuts deep and when you dissect their bullshit in front of all their readers…they don’t take too kindly to it.

I spent a lot of time at Angry Black Lady’s Chronicles this morning, I’ve been busy for the last few days and hadn’t had time to check it out. I will be posting more about what her and her other great writers have been posting. That’s one awesome blog over there.

Lost in the budget hoopla yesterday, the House Republicans (along with a couple of Democrats) passed H.J. Res. 37, which disapproves of FCC rules “relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband industry practices,” aka…“Net Neutrality”. The bill passed 240-179 with votes from Democrats Boren (OK), Bishop (GA), Scott (GA), Shrader (OR), Thompson (MS), and Peterson (MN).

One of the major backers of the anti-net neutrality resolution is Freedom Works, a right-wing nonprofit organization heavily invested in the Tea Party, that has received funding from Verizon and AT&T, who stand to benefit if the law is overturned. Once again the Koch Brothers had their moneybags in this, too.

Who The Hell Am I!

I’m a liberal that is extreme in some ways and not in others. I support President Obama and make no apologies for it. I think he has done a phenomenal job, especially when you consider that he inherited a huge mess and has faced unprecedented opposition from a lazy & desperate Republican Party. I’m a film producer/director/editor, adjunct professor, technician, media critic and photographer when I’m not reading left wing blogs and typing on this one. – On Twitter @ExtremeLiberal or Email at liberalforreal (at) gmail.com

Own An Important Part Of American History!

Cicely Tyson narrates this award winning documentary that tells the story of African American migration from the old south to the prosperous north. Winner of 5 Awards including "Best Film" at the Astoria International Film Festival, the "Paul Robeson Award" at the Newark Black Film Festival and "Best Film Relating To The Black Experience" at the XXV International Black Cinema Berlin/Germany!